Christmas Eve!

Hey peeps! I hope wherever you are today (and whether or not you celebrate Christmas), you’re having a wonderful, relaxing, fun day with family, friends and good food.

The Christmas eve Beef Wellington as it's about to go in the oven, plus my recipe notebook and some cheap but yummy wine. See my new toy in the background?! So excited to put my new KitchenAid stand mixer to use!

Boyfriend Jolie and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas together, and last night I made my first Beef Wellington! I made the Wellington off this recipe: Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Christmas Beef Wellington, an update to the classic with roasted chestnuts and parma ham. It was good, but not mind-blowing, which I blame on myself as the duxelles needed to be better drained of water and the puff pastry needed to be rolled tighter. Still, it wasn’t bad for a first ever attempt and you can bet that there will be many more attempts in my future! The rest of last night’s meal included French Onion Soup, roasted asparagus and a strawberry-shortcake-ish dessert, which all turned out yummified. Tonight: turkey!

The finished Beef Wellington. Not bad for a first stab! I added roasted chestnuts and garlic to the duxelles, as per Gordon Ramsay.

Boyfriend Jolie gave me several presents, including the Pearl Jam Twenty DVD and book (eeeee!!) and a Kindle, which was a complete surprise and very exciting. I’ve long resisted going the e-reader route, but now that I have one, I’m beyond jazzed! My presents to him included Kerastase Masquintense Conditioning Mask, which is one of the absolute best intensive conditioners around and excellent for dry or damaged hair. I let him know that this is an incredibly special conditioner, and one which I very reluctantly parted with! (You know I was totally tempted to keep it for myself.)

Like gold: Kerastase Masquintense Conditioner for Dry Hair is AMAZING

The mask was recommended by Jeremy Davies, senior Creative Director at Vidal Sassoon in Beverly Hills, who gave me a fantastic cut a few days ago. I explained to Jeremy that I wanted Kate Middleton hair–yes, really–and so we’re trying to grow my layers out. I also started using Viviscal a few days ago, which warrants its own post. I first heard about it from Amber Katz of Beauty Blogging Junkie, who’s been taking it since September and swears it’s made her hair grow TWO INCHES EACH MONTH. In a nutshell, Viviscal is a hair vitamin that everybody in the beauty, fashion AND modeling industries is raving about, and which is supposed to make your hair grow like weeds. I’ll keep you posted!

My new cut thanks to Jeremy Davies at Vidal Sassoon Beverly Hills. (I had no makeup on, so I'm doing my best Cousin It impression here.)

Speaking of Kate Middleton, this is her first Christmas with the royal family. Unfortunately, Prince Philip is in the hospital after having emergency heart surgery, so hopefully he’ll get better soon! Kate appeared today on the royals’ traditional Church walkabout, looking very elegant in a cranberry-colored coat and hat.

Kate wears a cranberry-colored coat and a hat by Jane Corbett

And lest there’s any doubt about who the star of the show is…

Duchess Kate is mobbed by her people on Christmas at Sandringham